Monthly Archives: Sep 2018

Former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has for the first time come out to endorse one of the aspirants for the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket in Lagos State, Mr Jide Sanwo-Olu.

This was contained in a 21-paragraph tweet on his Twitter handle.

He subtly accused the incumbent governor, Akinwunmi Ambode of deviating from the path laid down by his administration and that of Babatunde Raji Fashola on waste management and environmental management.

The full tweets:

GOVERNORSHIP PRIMARY STATEMENT

30th September, 2018

Tomorrow, our party and the people of Lagos will have an encounter with destiny. We shall hold our governorship primary.

2. With the holding of direct primaries to elect governorship candidates in Lagos and other states, the APC takes a groundbreaking step toward greater internal democracy and progressive governance for the benefit of all people.

3. While our party is young, it has grown fast and has travelled far in a short time. This speaks well of the character of you, the party’s rank-and-file members. What, in other nations, has taken political parties generations to achieve, we have done in a few brief years.

4. No other party in Nigeria dare attempt what we have already dedicated ourselves to do. I thank and commend all APC members and all Lagosians who have lent their support to this historic and humane mission upon which our party has embarked.

5. We are democrats in the truest sense of the word. As such, we forever search for what is good and right for the people. With this ideal as our guide, tomorrow’s primary cannot be shaded by selfish ambition or the perceived personal grievance between this or that person.

6. Something much greater waits in the balance. What is at stake is nothing less than the future of the people of this state and how we can best maximise our collective destiny. By resort to direct primaries, the party places the people’s future soundly in their hands.

7. As democracy would have it, you shall be the authors of the party’s nomination and hopefully our next state government. I trust in the wisdom of the people and will abide it. However, as a leader of the party and as a former governor of our beloved and excellent Lagos,

8. I would be remiss if I did not make a few observations regarding the primary. My goal is and shall always be a better Lagos. To this objective, I have dedicated the greater part of my public life.

9. Roughly 20 years ago, a corps of dedicated and patriotic Lagosians, put aside personal interests and rivalries, to put their minds and best ideas together for the good of the state.

10. Out of this collaborative effort, was born a master plan for economic development that would improve the daily lives of our people. Bestowed on me was the honour of a lifetime when I was elected to be your governor in 1999. My administration faithfully implemented that plan.

11. The government of my immediate successor, Tunde Fashola, also honoured this enlightened plan. Where state government remained true to that blueprint, positive things happened.

12. During my tenure and Governor Fashola’s, Lagos state recorded improvements in all aspects of our collective existence, from public health to public sanitation, from education to social services, from the administration of justice to the cleaning of storm and sewage drains.

13. Businesses, large and small, invested, hired millions of workers and thrived. All Lagosians were to fully participate and justly benefit from the social dividends and improvements wrought by this plan.

14. From the common labourer, to business leaders, to professionals and our industrious civil service. We all were to be partners in a monumental but joint enterprise.

15. None was to be alienated. None was to be left out. And none were to be pushed aside. This is especially true for those who contributed so much to our development, whether as a business leader who has invested heavily in Lagos…

16. the homeowner who struggles to pay his fair share of taxes or as someone employed in the hard work of keeping our streets and byways clean so that others may go about their daily tasks unimpeded.

17. I make no pretence that the master plan is perfect. It can always be fine-tuned. However, whenever a government departed from this plan without compelling reason, the state and its people have borne the painful consequence of the improper departure.

18. I am encouraged by the emergence of a candidate in this primary who has served the state in senior positions in my administration, the Fashola administration and even in the current one.

19. While possessing a wealth of experience and exposure, he is a young man endowed with superlative vision and commitment. Most importantly, he understands the importance of the blueprint for development…

20. …He esteems it as a reliable and well-conceived vehicle for the future development of the state. He also knows the value of reaching out and working with others in order to maximize development and provide people the best leadership possible.

21. We walk into this primary strong and confidently believing in the right course we are to take. We shall emerge from this primary even stronger and more confident that we have taken that course by returning Lagos and our party to their finest path.

SANWO-OLU WENT FOR REHABILITATION AT GBAGADA GENERAL HOSPITAL; WAS ARRESTED AND DETAINED IN THE US FOR USING FAKE DOLLARS IN A NIGHT CLUB

– Akinwumi Ambode

Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of Lagos state, says Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his opponent in the race to secure the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019 is not fit.

Addressing a press conference at government house, Alausa, Ikeja, on Sunday, Ambode said Sanwo-Olu was arrested for fraud in the US.

“We have never responded to the campaign of calumny on social media. We have one family in APC. The aspirant being put up to compete against us is not a fit and proper person to take this job,” he said.

“I have done everything in the last three and half years to serve people selflessly and to serve the poor.

“This particular aspirant is somebody that hs been arrested for spending fake dollars in a nightclub in America, and he has been detained for months.

“He doesn’t have the competence to do what he is being propelled to do. This is somebody that has gone for rehabilitation before. The records are there at the Gbagada General Hospital. we don’t want to go to far. Our leadership should have a rethink.

“I plead with our leaders to have a rethink, It is not about me, it is about the opportunity that APC has.”

Organised Labour has suspended the minimum wage strike it embarked upon to protest government decision to suspend the meeting of the tripathite Committee.

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba who announced the suspension at a news conference said organized labour has received firm invitation to the reconvening of the meeting of the tripartite Committee.

Today is World Heart Day (WHD). World Heart Federation (WHF) has set aside September 29 of every year to celebrate the WHD and to educate and raise awareness on risk factors of heart diseases.“This year on WHD, we are asking you to make a promise. A promise to eat more healthily, to get more active, to say no to smoking,” said WHF in a statement.

As part of activities to mark the WHD, cardiologists have charged the general public to adopt a healthy lifestyle so as to prevent the issues of heart diseases ravaging the country. Also, heads of state and government on Thursday committed to 13 new steps to tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancers, heart and lung diseases, stroke, and diabetes, and to promote mental health and well being.

According to the WHF and World Health Organisation (WHO), CVD is the leading cause of death and disability in the world; killing 17.5 million people a year. That is a third of all deaths on the planet and half of all NCD-related deaths. Around 80 per cent of these deaths are in low- and middle-income countries where human and financial resources are least able to address the CVD burden.By 2030, almost 23.6 million people will die from CVDs, mainly from heart disease and stroke. These are projected to remain the single leading causes of death.

Triggering these diseases – which manifest primarily as heart attacks and strokes – are tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and the harmful use of alcohol. These in turn show up in people as raised blood pressure, elevated blood glucose and overweight and obesity, risks detrimental to good heart health.

Director-General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Thursday: “Today, world leaders have taken a set of landmark steps to beat NCDs. These add up to a historic opportunity to promote health, save lives, and grow economies.”World leaders, on the sidelines of Thursday’s United Nations UN General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in New York, United States (U.S.), agreed to take responsibility themselves for their countries’ effort to prevent and treat NCDs. They also agreed that these efforts should include robust laws and fiscal measures to protect people from tobacco, unhealthy foods, and other harmful products, for example by restricting alcohol advertising, banning smoking, and taxing sugary drinks.

WHO, through the Global Hearts Initiative, is supporting governments around the world to scale-up efforts on CVD prevention and control through three technical packages: MPOWER for tobacco control, SHAKE for salt reduction and HEARTS for the strengthening of CVD management in primary health care. Launched in September 2016, the Global Hearts Initiative has since been rolled out in a number of countries. In those settings health workers are being trained to better deliver tested and affordable measures to protect people from CVDs and help them to recover following a heart attack or stroke. A new global initiative – Resolve to Save Lives – will give renewed impetus to these efforts.

Executive Director, Nigerian Heart Federation (NHF), Dr. Kingsley Akinroye, told The Guardian that the rate of heart diseases is alarmingly going up in Nigeria. This, he said is as a result of low awareness drive and poor healthcare institutions across the nation.

“Our health system is not focused. On high rate of heart diseases, we, as a country are still not prepared for it. At all level of care, we have a lot to do. In the primary healthcare a lot of awareness and promotion has been ongoing by the heart foundation. We have been doing it for the past 25 years, we are making efforts but the impact is still not there. The awareness, the care and prevention are still very poor. NHF is working with the government, regulating and international agencies on what can be done in terms of prevention of heart diseases,” Akinroye said.

On the activities of Foundation to mark the day, Akinroye said: “We started our own celebration since September First in Port Harcourt. We conducted Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training for societies as an instrument useful in resuscitating one from heart attack. We conducted it for Association of Petroleum Engineers in Nigeria in which their members of staff were trained on how to do that.

“We also gave a lecture on prevention of heart disease and current situation of heart disease in the country. We are also playing the golf tournament this weekend at Ibadan as a further demonstration and also educate people on how to prevent heart diseases.”

Akinroye explained that as an individual, one should be able to know the risk factors, what makes one more prone to heart disease and what can be done. “You should be able to be conscious of your diet. Nutrition is very important. A lot of emphasis should be laid on reduced intake of salt. Salt intake in diet affects the blood pressure; the much intake of salt the higher the risk of high blood pressure and that is number one heart disease in the country. We are also focused on the amount of Trans fat consumed. This is why NHF has been promoting heart awareness and food labeling with some food manufacturers under the permission of The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to make sure food products are labeled, those that contain a lot of Trans fat will not be sold in the market.”

He continued: “We have also have moved ahead in reducing people the opportunity of tobacco use and the federal government has agreed to increase excise duty on alcohol. We are promoting exercise among the populace and towards this extent, this is our fourth year coming out with what is called a report card which is been used in the 52 countries of the world and NHF is one of them, we use this report card to monitor exercise among children and youth.”

On the issue of excise duty on alcohol, Akinroye said: “We have done our job, we are working with the government and some manufactures and the Minister promised and recommended this to the Federal Executive Council and we believe this has been approved. Then as a foundation, we are also waiting for the implementation.”

Akinroye encouraged the public saying: “Heart disease is now with us. It affects everybody. We also must recognise that heart disease is preventable. You can do it yourself, you can regulate the amount of sugar you take, make sure you do not stay in a smoke filled environment, and if your neighbor smokes please ask them to stop. Do not abuse alcohol.”

Akinroye urged Nigerians to always check their blood glucose levels because High blood glucose (blood sugar) can be indicative of diabetes and if it is left undiagnosed and untreated it can put you at increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

“Check your blood pressure. High blood pressure is the number one risk factor for CVD. It is called the ‘silent killer’ because it usually has no warning signs or symptoms, and many people do not realize they have it. Check your numbers. Visit your healthcare professional and ask them to measure your cholesterol levels, weight and body mass index (BMI), as well as your blood pressure and blood glucose. They can then advise you on your CVD risk so you can plan to improve your heart health,” he added.

The NHF boss continued: “Understand the signs and symptoms of a heart attack over 70 percent of all cardiac and breathing emergencies occur in the home when a family member is present and could help a victim. Talk to your healthcare professional about local CPR courses so you can help a loved-one in the event of a heart attack. If you suspect a family member is having a heart attack or stroke, seek medical help immediately. Cholesterol is associated with around four million deaths per year so visit your healthcare professional and ask them to measure your levels and they will be able to advice on your CVD risk so you can plan to improve your heart health.”

He also encouraged the public’s participation to let the government reduce the high cost of high blood pressure drugs. “We are also canvassing that when you have high blood pressure you need to take drugs but the drugs are costly. We need the government to reduce the high cost of high blood pressure drugs. They are unaffordable a lot of our people cannot afford it. Let us reduce the cost of these drugs because a lot of them are imported to the country you can do a lot as government by reducing the excise duty and also encourage local manufacture to manufacture drugs for heart disease,” he said.

Similarly, a Paediatric Cardiologists at Gray Cardiology Centre, Lagos, Dr. Emeka Ugwu, explained that world heart day is a day set aside usually to discuss the burden or problems of hearts diseases and blood vessel problems and also enlightening people about the issues that involve the heart and blood vessels.

He said as people are eating things that are not as natural as what our fore fathers ate, we are bound to situation where we have more heart problems including heart failures, hypertension and all that. Ugwu continued: “In children, because of industrialization, we are having more pollution and increased incidence of heart problem within the children. Conversely, we are fortunate that, just as industrialization is throwing up things that can predispose people to anomaly, we also have technology to be able to address that.”

He added: “The Gray Cardiology Centre is able to provide those opportunities to reduce medical tourism that continues to drain billions of naira from Nigerians. It is from our notes to discuss the burden and problem of heart diseases in Nigeria and current opportunities that is available for our people to access the information, preventive care and curative care of heart problems.”

The expert blamed the rise in congenital heart disease on paucity of data and lack of skilled personnel to diagnose and identify heart problems in children. He continued: “Generally, we know that globally, the frequency is almost constant, about one percent of all birth will have congenital heart diseases and in Nigeria we have about seven to eight million babies that is around 700, 000 to 800, 000 babies would have congenital heart disease.

“Majority of them we actually do not know the causes but we know some risk factor that can predispose into having congenital heart disease. We know that some infections, mostly viral infections that parents have especially mothers when they are pregnant might affect the child and the child will have a structural heart problem. If there is a family history, a child has been born with the structural heart problem, it increases the risk of another child been born with it. It is important for any family that has child with structural heart problem to screen the subsequent children so as to detect it on time.

“Another risk factor is diabetes, if the mother is diabetic, it increases the risk of some structural heart diseases in the children, and some skin problem can also be a pointer that a child might have heart problem from when he is born by the woman that has it. “Generally we will not be able to say for sure the other one is drugs. Some medications when the mothers take them especially within three months of getting pregnant the child can have a hole in the heart. Majority of the cases are due to ignorance, Ugwu said.

The paediatric cardiologist expressed worries over the state of the health sector saying: “The first cardiac surgery in Nigeria was done in 1974. We expect by now we should have gone far in doing things like this and there is this issue of brain drain, a lot of doctors leaving the country, poor training, lack of government funding and the expected developmental progress is not there.”

Ugwu continued: “But currently, we have a lot of Nigerians returning and also many Nigerians going out to acquire these skills. Our collective responsibility is to tell Nigerians that some of these things are available in Nigeria so as to curtail medical tourism.“There are some policies of the government aimed at improving the health of Nigerians. If I would suggest anything, it would be health insurance to be provided for Nigerians. Health insurance is very important, universal coverage is very important so that Nigerians can access healthcare.

“Doctors working at the local level should also be trained and then have the capacity to refer those cases. If people are not empowered to access care they would be always be complications. I think the government is doing a lot to refurbish the primary healthcare and empowering Nigerians to be able to access this care so that people will not pay out of pocket especially for cardiac problems.”

Furthermore, a Consultant Cardiologist, Dr. Kenneth Ochulor, said: “Health is something we cannot negotiate by choosing a lower quality over high quality. “In general health problems can be prevented, because we know if you do not have this problem from childhood then you are looking at something else going on in your body that is affecting you.”

Ochulor continued: “So our task is to identify what went wrong and address it. Lifestyle habits like heavy alcoholic intake and cigarette use should be avoided. The best way of avoiding heart diseases is finding a way to preventing these conditions from being established and eventually established, we find a way to address them early enough to avoid being damaged the heart of the person.“Again, lifestyles conditions that lead to gaining a lot of weight, sedentary lifestyles jobs that do not get you to move about lack of exercises those things pose as a risk. So the part of it that an individual have some control over peoples should have control over their diet and weight and ability to exercise so as to prevent heart problems.”

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